Tesla Explained the Reasons Behind the Limiting of the Supercharging Speed

The Tesla community is a fast growing one, but despite this, there are still many controversies that need to be handled from time to time. For example, just this week, one of the communication/technical controversies occurred. Many agree that this one was not unlike the one based on the company’s undisclosed performance restrictions concerning the max power output. According to that one, maximum power will only be available on the so-called ‘launch mode’.

This time, however, it’s another restriction. Apparently, the company has decided to limit the charge rate during the Supercharging, and it will be done on all of the cars that have too many DC fast-charge events accumulated.

It all started when several Tesla owners started complaining that they’re having a slower charge rate on Superchargers. No one could figure out the reason behind this, especially since there could be so many different issues that could be making the problem. The state of the battery pack, its temperatures, the state of charge, even the Supercharger itself could be the source of the slower charging rate. So, when one of the owners said that they came back from a trip on which they used different Superchargers, and all of them were slow, the issue was brought back into focus.

The user went to Tesla’s Service Center and left a post that contained the technician’s conclusion about the issue. In the conclusion, it’s said that there’s no trouble found, but that the charging IS being done at a slower rate than earlier. Tesla’s engineers gave the answer, however, and it was discovered that, in order to prevent degradation of the battery pack, the system will restrict charging after a specific amount of Supercharges. And since the vehicle in question has done its fair share of Supercharging, the speeds are now limited, permanently. Still, there were no signs of battery degradation, which would mean that the system works, and is there with a reason, as we can see. Also, the car itself works perfectly.

This news wasn’t accepted well among the Tesla users, but it’s also important to mention that this specific user has only ever done the Supercharges, which would mean that the limit exists, but it’ll take a while to reach it if you’re not using only Supercharging. This is a very useful news, even though many didn’t like it. On the positive side, they’re now aware that they must watch out for their charging habits, and that using a level 2 charging is probably a good idea.

In their own statement, Tesla has explained that this limitation serves a purpose and that it’s put so that the owners could have the best possible experience. The batteries simply wouldn’t be able to survive for long if only Supercharging was used, and there’s no help there since that’s how physics works.

Many different limitations were built in so that the durability of the cars or the safety of the passengers would be increased. Most aren’t even detectable, but when they do get detected, the public usually doesn’t receive the news very well. However, the recent presentation by Tesla’s partner in battery research Jeff Dahn has shown a new chemistry that might increase the resistance of the battery, and this might eventually lead to an even greater number of allowed Supercharges.